Yesterday, the official Vinylmation blog offered a tease in the way of a photo of a portion of what is unquestionably a vinylmation figure (left). Also unquestionable is the airbrushed artistic flair of a Disney artist I’ve come to know and love ever since we met at the D23 Expo, Noah.

We reached out to Noah, who is also the resident artist of Disneyland’s D Street, for a comment but he was feeling a bit coy and wouldn’t quite give up the goods. He did, however, eventually tweet out this cryptic message along with a photo (right) which suspiciously looks like the front of a giant painted Mickey Mouse form. In fact, we even spotted what looks like it could very well be Noah’s signature right where Mickey’s nose would be.

On July 24, 2010, from 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. local times, Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members can enjoy an early shopping opportunity with incredible discounts of up to 50% off select merchandise items, special doorbusters, surprise markdowns and more at the World of Disney® Store in the Downtown Disney® District. The first 1000 Annual Passholders or Disney Vacation Club Members at the World of Disney® Store on July 24, 2010, will receive a complimentary gift.

The latest in a series of character posters from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Walt Disney Studios and Jerry Bruckheimer is Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), the title character himself.

In the film, Dave Stutler is a nerdy NYU physics major, lacking confidence and poise, not very popular with girls or even his fellow students. At the age of 10, he experiences a frightening incident when he encounters sorcerer Balthazar Blake after wandering into the bizarre Arcana Cabana curio shop.

He’s given a dragon ring that comes to life on his finger, and he’s told that he’ll be a very important sorcerer himself.

Although it wasn’t expected to hit the interwebs until Monday, Yahoo! Movies offered up an exclusive debut of the first teaser trailer for Tangled from Walt Disney Animation Studios.

The 2 minute+ trailer gives us the setup of the relationship between notorious thief Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi of NBC’s Chuck) and Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) who has spent her entire life locked up in a tower. We also get quite a bit of an introduction to Pascal, Rapunzel’s chameleon friend-slash-guardian.

Of special note is we also get to see just how ‘magical’ Rapunzel’s hair is as John Lasseter first revealed during the D23 Expo last year.

When ESPN launches ESPN 3D on Friday, June 11, three advertisers – SONY, Gillette and Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 – will debut new commercials produced in native 3D. Additionally, ESPN will introduce its first-ever 3D commercial from the award-winning This is SportsCenter franchise.

“The 3D advertising opportunity and marketplace is at the beginning so we are very excited to have three marquee advertisers on board,” said Ed Erhardt, president, ESPN Customer Marketing and Sales. “We have interest from several of our clients to include ESPN 3D in their packages and we will do everything we can to accommodate them.”

Disney Interactive Studios today announced Club Penguin Game Day! is being developed exclusively for Wii. Scheduled for release this September, Club Penguin Game Day! will mark the franchise’s video game console debut.

Based on the snow-covered virtual world that’s captivated millions around the globe, Club Penguin Game Day! will delve into the environment, characters and storylines of the online playground of Club Penguin like never before. The game will include innovative ways to connect with ClubPenguin.com and new, interactive mini-games to challenge and engage the whole family.

When it rains, it pours; now it’s raining cats and dogs and we just stepped in a poodle. Unfortunately there’s no web rim shot patent to share with you today, but out of several patent applications we came across from Disney Enterprises this morning, there’s a few we thought were worth sharing with you all. You can thank us later since there’s no patent here for instant gratuity either.

First up is a patent whose fruit will be very familiar to most of us by now as it played a part in the famous Talking Mickey Mouse episode although you may not recognize it at first.

From inventors Tim Eck, William Wiedefeld, David Hynds, Jeffrey Schenck, William Brasher and Brendan MacDonald comes a new take on a new classic: the articulated character heads. This is not the original patent that covers the heads featured in the stage shows at the Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, but rather a newer type of head/system that makes the interactive character scenario more plausible.

Titled ‘Method and System for Articulated Character Head Actuation and Control,’ the patent application is two-fold. First, it attempts to seek out the first major problem with the now-antiquated heads: noise. According to the patent, even when the old heads weren’t actually moving, they were prone to generating an audible standby noise. It appears that by ‘simply’ upgrading the quality of the motors and servos et al, that the noise is minimized to a whisper-quiet level, allowing the heads to safely articulate even in close environments with audience members (guests).

In what may very well be a first, DisneyStore.com is allowing Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders the opportunity to purchase an AP exclusive item online, albeit a bit clumsily. Taking advantage of the existing personalization feature on the site, it allows guests to enter in their AP number, last name and zip code for verification.

The item’s page makes no mention of limits in terms of number of items purchased, but none have been formally announced for purchasing the pin in-person either.

For more information or to purchase the pin, visit the Disney Parks section of the Disney pin shop or search for item #400000415406P.

Back in January, we gave you the very first look at new novelty Mickey Mouse Ears making their way into the parks. Since then the ears have slowly made their way into the theme parks and now we are pleased to share with you the news that the scratch-and-sniff popcorn box ears (400117466032P) and Mickey Bar ears (400117466025P) are now available at the Disney Parks store on DisneyStore.com. Also available as of today are the Toy Story branded ears (400116718651P).

For more information and photos or to order the ears, check out the Ear Hats category in the Theme Park shop or search for the item numbers given above.

Also available today is this World of Color pin featuring Tinker Bell from Disney California Adventure. The pin measures 1 3/4″ and features a pin on pin element. For more information or to order, visit the Theme Park shop and search for item #400017513126P.